Chrysler PT Cruiser Warning Lights and Trouble Codes

Last night we were driving back from an appointment doing about 70mph. It was around 100 degrees F outside (San Antonio, TX). Ironically, our 2006 PT hit 42,000 miles and when it did, all of the warning lights flashed on and all needles (speedometer, fuel guage, tachometer, etc.) dropped to their "engine off" positions. I did not notice any loss in power and the exterior lights remained on. This happened a couple of miles further down the road and repeated every few miles. This continued to occur even as we approached our subdivision at speeds around 30 - 40 mph. This morning on the drive to work (5 miles from home and speeds not in excess of 45mph) there was NO repeat of this incident. Any thoughts?

Comments

Our '06 PT started doing the same thing a short while ago. First, the lights would all flash on, just last week it started with the lights flashing on and the needles all dropped but there would be no actual performance problems. While on a trip a few days ago, the lights and needles dropping occurred but then the engine also cut out - doing this a few times while driving in the West Virginia hills. A diagnostic indicated no codes so we don't know what's going on but are leery of driving back to Virginia through the hills. The engine cut off hasn't happened since those few times in the mountainous area but...Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I only wish I had an answer. Diagnostics provided no help, whatsoever. As with you, the needles dropped to their lowest and all lights were going on and off. The stalling was experienced only on one occasion. Additionally, the frequency of this has dropped tremendously to where it only happens once every few weeks. I keep trying to come up with something which I may have done (topped the fuel off, gunned the engine, etc.) which may point to the cause. Unfortunately, I am at a dead end. I have dropped my thoughts to "The Car Guys" on NPR, but have not heard from them.

One additional thing which I have always found odd on my car is that my parking lights flash occasionally when I unlock the car. We do not have a car alarm nor do we have a remote to unlock and lock the car and so rely on the key. Flashing parking lights I would expect with a remote, but not with a manual key. Can you tell me if this also happens to you on occasion?

Does your car have a manual or automatic transmission, by the way? I am wondering if it might be just happening to manual transmission PT Cruisers.

If nothing else, thanks for making me not feel like I am crazy. I wish I had an answer, but I will give you this. I will give you my email address and if you are ever provided a solution, please share with me. If you are okay with it, provide your email address to me and I will do likewise.

You can write me at grillon (at symbol) att (dot) net. I did it like this because Edmunds may frown on exchanging addresses.

I am having a similar problem with my 2006 PT Cruiser, which is equipped with a manual transmission: as I was driving down the highway, all the idiot lights lit up in the central guage cluster, although my speedometer, fuel, temp and rpm needles remained steady. The duration is about 30 to 45 seconds. It occurred about 6 times. Nothing happened for a week, then it occurred twice this monday during the same commute, but several miles before the first incident.

I also have a 2006 PT Cruiser Convertible that is a standard transmission. My car has largely been in and out of the shop (mostly in) since about April.

The symptoms I've experienced are the same mentioned above: First the seat belt light flashes on, then off, then ALL the lights on the dashboard come on. This is usually accompanied by the speedometer jumping up and down--mostly down as the power to the dash seems to be cutting in and out. On 15-20 occasions, this was followed by power to the engine dying.

Because it's a manual and the speed at which it's traveling is high enough, the engine most often restarts itself as they do when they're dead and get a rolling push start.

My symptoms first started over a year ago, and tended to happen most frequently when it was hot (95 degrees or better), but then it started happening even when the temps were in the low- to mid-70s.

The dealership has not had any signals in their diagnostics which have helped. They've updated some software, cleaned the battery leads, fixed what they said was a loose wire in the dash, and most recently replaced the instrument cluster. However, after picking the car up and then leaving it at the airport for a week, the same problems started up all over again.

I've contacted Chrysler and had it at a dealer for the last month, but they can't diagnose it because they say they can't replicate it (this despite actually having a tech in my car one time before the panel was replaced). I'm searching for many others who have had the same problems as Chrysler insists they haven't heard about this issue before. I'm collecting everything I can find on the Internet about the same problems, which by the way have apparently also included Town & Country cars from the same 2005-2006 period. If anyone has any solutions, please let me know at bryanmarks AT sbcglobal.net.

My uncle has a PT Cruiser (08 or 09) that has the same problem as described in this thread. The seat belt light flashes on, the other engine lights all light up, the speedometer needle fluctuates up and down, the engine stops, it may restart, but eventually it quits for good. Once it has stopped, he can turn the ignition to restart the car. This is happening more and more frequently. His dealer can't find any problem. Has anyone had a successful fix?

We are having the same problem with my wife's 2006 PT Cruiser. It is an automatic, so she does not have the option of easily restarting when on the road. All I can say is there sure seem to be a lot of complaints about this same issue with the same model and year of vehicle. It is to the point that we are almost afraid to drive it anywhere at all for fear that it will quit either in the wrong part of town, or cause an accident on the road. At the same time we are not independently wealthy to be able to afford untold labor charges to keep searching for this elusive problem. Our vehicle has less than 50,000 miles on it and we should feel confident about the quality and reliability. Chrysler needs to agree there is a problem and get it fixed.

Well your symptoms perfectly describe what happened to us in our PT cruiser Manual Diesel 2005 Tourer in the UK. No one seems to know what the problem is but it starts with the seat belt light coming on and off followed by lots of other lights (bottom row I think) then sometimes a warning bong. I also reckon there is a ticking under the dash to the RHS of the steering column (RH drive in the UK!) All gauges flicker up and down finally coming to rest on zero. A few seconds later everything is OK for a few seconds then repeats for a few times before the engine dies. Engine light illuminated and dealer readout show low pressure to injector rail. Wait a few minutes restart and all OK! Dont think it is heat, it was about freezing when it happened to us, and it wasn't raining so unlikely to be water ingress. Lost complete confidence in the car as you dont know when it is going to happen (tho' last time it was after 35 miles). Chrysler dealer couldn't find anything wrong. Any news on this problem would be gratefully received, if Iget to the bottom of the problem I will update you. Currently injectors being replaced... other forums point to failing battery and/or dashboard failure though that is not conclusive

Help! I have a 2005 PT Cruiser convertible/turbo-my dash lights are totally out. No warning, just stopped working. I am hoping to trade this car in, but I cannot do it without my odometer showing up! The seatbelt light, oil light, fuel light all work..it's the light in the middle that shows the odometer, etc......that is out.I have had 2 estimates basically telling me that I can ONLY get this part from the dealership. The cost=$600 (Not including labor)Can I find this part on E-bay? At a junkyard? Any suggestions?

Same problem, i.e. all of the warning lights flashed on and all needles (speedometer, fuel guage, tachometer, etc.) dropped to their "engine off" positions after first flashing the seat belt light, just started last week. 2006 PT GT manual with less than 30K miles. Only seems to happen after 10 to 15 minutes of freeway driving (consistent 60+ mph). I drove surface streets in to work this morning, never exceeding 55 mph, and it did not happen.

I think (hope) the problem is fixed.New diesel injectors were fitted. However 200 miles after this repair the battery light came on for a few minutes while driving and then went out. 20 miles later knocking grinding noises from the alternator. This was replaced, while looking around trying to find the where the noise was coming from I noticed a short earth strap from chassis to engine (just above the pulleys) had been worn though (by a rubbing contact dont know what) and had become disconnected, this was reconnected when the alterator was replaced.

The original problem has not occurred and we have done hundreds of miles since. So.......are the flashing lights etc due to a software glitche that is triggerred by an engine fault, or was it the earth strap or was it the alternator.

Oh and the car does 50% more miles to the gallon since the injectors were replaced. I gotta thank the dealer who sold us the car for their tenacity and perseverence in fixing this problem it makes a change to have some great aftersales service.

Problem still occured sporadically. All the grounding straps are ok. Mid March I disconnected an aftermarket wireless backup camera we had be using and the problem has not recurred. Appears that it was causing interference.

Have a 2003 Turbo GT 98,000 miles. Bought new. I have had endless problems with engine light coming on and at first, that was all, no skipping or anything just light kept coming on. Finally I had a dealer fix a vacuum leak around the fuel hose close to the gas cap. This helped for about 4 or 5 months then check engine light comes back on. I have had same problems as most of you. Took it to dealer about 6 months ago and was told I needed computer softwear update. That was done(285.00) Ran fine for about a 2 months then engine light comes on. That is a common problem and have been told to ignore this unless it starts flashing. Well, several weeks go by then same problem again, RPM speedometer goes up and down, loss of power, cutting off, back on, (on a4 lane xpressway no less) I pull off on emergency lane wont crank after several minutes cranks up and I drive home at 65 mph, 15 miles home smooth no problem. This has been going on for several months (about 8) Happened again today. It never happens when I take it in for check up now but I'll be taking it in tomorrow anyway. Hope to have an answer to post

I have a 2007 PT Cruiser, base model with manual. I just started having the problems noted in the above comments...no engine stalling...yet. I was about to go to dealer but after reading the comments I do not want to waste the money.

having trouble with my pt cruiser, while driving down the road all power to the car went out, and it coasted to the side of the road.. car would not start! we checked for spark at each spark plug, all were good. thought it was a fuel problem, without checking the fuel pressure we replaced the fuel pump, after checking fuel pressure with the gage on both the new and original pumps, both were good pressure, about 55 PSI.. we removed the top timing cover and the two camshaft gears were at TDC (top dead center). Car still will not start, the engine will turn over , it jus wont start. Any Ideas what could possibly be wrong! This is my Daily Driver!

I have an automatic 2006 pt convertible. About two months ago, the seat belt light came on along with a few others. I jiggled the seat belt and the llights went out. thought nothing of it; wire might be lose. On Saturday I was drving and all the dashlights came on and the gas needle took a nose dive. I thought that I had lost power for a moment but the car never lost its speed. I called the dealership to ask for some help with this issue and I have not heard back yet. Is this dangerous? Could I get killed? What is the cause of this? I was drving my car on the highway and a back road when this occurred. Does anyone have a anser yet?

I posted a note in December 2010 about my uncle's PT Cuiser with this problem. He had the car in to his local Chrysler dealer many times and they could never find a problem. Sometimes the car would drive fine and sometimes he'd have several episodes in one day. His final solution was to trade the car in on a Toyota Corolla!

My 2005 pt cruiser just stopped dead on the moterway just,we coated to a hault,no warning lights came on but the abs light and traction off light had been on for at least 3 weeks,previous to this the fog light came on when indicating right.Only done 18,000 miles in it.It is at a garage in France,we live in England and they can not find the problem.Any ideas?

Hi,our 2005 2.4gt pt cruiser is at a garage in France,we live in England after full electrical cut out on the moterway,our abs and traction off light had been on for about 3 weeks,we were told this would not affect the running of the car.The garage say that they can not the fault and we just do not know what to do,any ideas ?

I took to the car to the dealer and they ran a diagnostic and I was told it was a bad cam senor. Replaced the cam sensor, and then Sept. 3 driving on the highway and all the dashlights came on and needles (gas and speed) took a nose dive once again. I didn't lose power but I sure am mad. I have put a lot work into this car. I get everything fixed, maintenance done on time and I am getting frustrated. I do not know what else to do. I am sure since it is electrical issue, they may never find the problem.

The problem has only happened once since March, when I removed the aftermarket wireless backup camera. My guess is that the electrical shielding/grounding straps are insufficient so when there is even a very small amount of interference the problem will occur. I have seen references to similar problems in other forums for different cars. There are kits available to provide additional grounding, which I may resort to, but for now everything is ok. I installed the camera on my Chevy Silverado and have had no problem.

Solution to this problem you would not believe. Had this same problem from May until July 2011. Did the internet search, saw the youtube videos that displayed this problem (needles on dash tanking and lights on, no power to move but car still running). After many repairs and replacing items on car, I finally left the car with the dealer and told them to run it until they could duplicate the problem (you see, dealers will not fix the problem until they actually see it happen which makes the owner feel like they are making up the problem). The solution to this problem is the ignition switch. I know this sounds crazy but my car has been fixed since July 2011 and I have not had this problem occur even though the problem happened multiple times and in some instances my life was in danger. GET YOUR IGNITION SWITCH REPLACED. Sorry I took so long to post this but now I want everybody to know.

Solution to this problem you would not believe. Had this same problem from May until July 2011. Did the internet search, saw the youtube videos that displayed this problem (needles on dash tanking and lights on, no power to move but car still running). After many repairs and replacing items on car, I finally left the car with the dealer and told them to run it until they could duplicate the problem (you see, dealers will not fix the problem until they actually see it happen which makes the owner feel like they are making up the problem). The solution to this problem is the ignition switch. I know this sounds crazy but my car has been fixed since July 2011 and I have not had this problem occur even though the problem happened multiple times and in some instances my life was in danger. GET YOUR IGNITION SWITCH REPLACED. Sorry I took so long to post this but now I want everybody to know.